WEBVTT - Ep. 111: Inside the Dark House 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:12.760 This is me eat your podcast coming at you shirtless, 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:17.680 severely bug bitten and in my case underwear listening podcast. 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:27.200 You can't predict anything, okay, coming at you not shirtless 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:31.680 but extremely bundled up. Is it fair to say that, um, 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:33.600 are we in south central? Would be like too far 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:39.240 north to be out of south central Alaska? I feel 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:42.760 like we're closer interior. Yeah, i'd say this is interior. 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:44.720 I can say, I can say we're interior Alaska, and 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:50.519 I'm not being like a melodramatic. On a lake, perched 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:54.880 over a spear hole, it's about three ft of ice 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:57.280 on the lake. We have a whole chopped through the ice. 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:00.640 It's about three and a half by two and a 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:06.760 half feet. Would you say, looking at a bottom, we're 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:11.280 on about eight ft about eight ft of water. The 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:12.759 hole we have in the ice is about the size 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:16.840 of a big screen TV. Not like a guy that's 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:19.759 like way into TV watching, but it's a big screen 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:21.959 TV for a person who watches a fair bit of 0:01:22.000 --> 0:01:24.520 TV but not too much. What sort of become the 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:28.360 norm I think for the American household, right? Yeah, But 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:29.959 now then you walk into a house and you'd be 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:35.520 like these models watch a lot of TV. Yeah, based 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:37.840 on how big that TV is, this guy's watching too 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:42.360 much of it. This would be like we got a 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:47.360 hole about the size of Yeah. You appreciate TV, you 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:50.160 respect it for its value, but you haven't overvalued it. 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:55.600 And we're on a slope looking down eight feet of water. 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:59.840 It's kind of a sandy slope. The slope peters off, 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:06.960 some weeds are picking up, and we are spearing for whitefish. 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:13.720 There's two species hanging around. We have seen that when 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:15.320 you guys, uh. The first one he saw when he 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:20.560 dropped that little underwater camera a humpback. We've seen so 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:25.560 far to humpback white fish, and have seeing quite a 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:29.960 number of round whitefish. They're about they look a lot 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:32.360 like a mountain whitefish if you're familiar with those, and 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:37.639 they're about like a smallish mountain whitefish, but not so 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:40.400 small that you can throw it back. But there are 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:44.160 better eating white fish in the mountain whitefish, and the 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:47.720 humpbacks would be like a big lake whitefish. Is that 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:53.200 fair brand? So far, we have put two of these 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:55.839 whitefish on the ice, and we've also picked up lake 0:02:55.880 --> 0:03:02.880 trout in a big bourbon, fourteen pound bourbon. You wait 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:07.839 him out a fourteen pound bourbon and that's to take 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:13.920 so far today, right, A big smoking bourbon and then 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:17.640 a in a laker. Probably the best bourbon of the trip. 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:23.440 Oh yeah, definitely the best bourbon of the trip. Um. Yeah, 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.600 and it's yeah and so yeah, it's the middle of day. 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:30.720 It's what one o'clock now, two o'clock. Yeah, it's still 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:35.640 seven hours till prime time. Seven hours still prime time now. Um. 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:39.440 I want everyone to introduce themselves and tell your name 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:43.000 and how many years you've been ice fishing? Joe? Uh, 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:49.960 Jo's ch z y h really? Yeah? Yeah, I didn't 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:53.000 caught your last name. Joe's zich. Yeah. Most people call 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:56.480 him Joe's zurch from where I don't know, because they 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:58.320 just can't live with the zitch. They gotta be like, 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:03.240 it's gotta be zerch joe'sitch. What where's your grandparents? Are 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:07.960 great grandparents hail from? Oh? I got you. I can 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:12.480 see that. And I've been ice fishing for twenty eight 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:22.400 years probably how old are you? Okay? Okay? Bryce names 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:25.520 Bryce Myers and uh I've only been ice fishing for 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:28.080 about seven or eight years. Ever since I met Joe. 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:30.520 He was the one that took me out for the 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:33.840 first time, took you under his wing pretty much. So 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.480 I'll get to why Joel's ice fish for twenty eight years. 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:40.039 But why, uh what? What prevented you from ice fish 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:43.280 and the rest of your life? Um? Originally from Boise, Idaho, 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:46.279 and not a whole lot of ice down there to 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:50.600 fish off of. So like a little south of ice fishing, Yeah, definitely. 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:53.440 I think they do some ice fishing up north. But 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:56.120 I wouldn't drive that far to go ice fishing when 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.200 I was living down there. So it's not like when 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:02.640 you go into attack shopping boys. He just not, Um, 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:06.359 you don't. You don't see ice fishing gear, not that 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.279 I remember. I don't think so, at least not around 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:11.040 the Boys area when I was down there. But you 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:14.640 were an angler, Yes, you grew up fishing, Yes. Did 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:18.800 you grew up hunting? Um? Not as much? Mostly small game, 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.719 UM birds, stuff like that, not a not a lot 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:27.240 of big game. And then he became an you became 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:32.720 a hard water angler after come moving to Alaska. Yeah, 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:35.400 pretty much. Joe said, you want to go fish one day? 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:39.560 It's that sure. I bought a cheap little rod and 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:42.719 after that day went out. I bought myself an augurt 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:45.560 An ice house and was hooked. And now here you 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:47.680 are with a big pair of ice fishing bibs on 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:53.799 working a tube jig down the hole. Tranlu in whitefish. Yeah, okay, Nie, 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:58.400 uh the honest, But tell us and I've been ice 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:03.080 fishing for I could probably still just until instead of 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:04.719 saying in years, I can just probably give you the 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:08.200 amount of days that I understand. Why did you not 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:11.160 fishing Michigan? You guys are the only people I know 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.000 I didn't fish. Dude, I don't know. You'd have to 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:18.480 ask my dad that question. I'm not I'm not gonna 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:20.440 blame my dad, but I'm gonna say that they're like 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:23.240 it has to do with something with the fact that, like, 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:27.039 my dad just wasn't a big fisherman, never has been, 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:31.880 isn't now like almost skipped the generation. Like anyone who traps, 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:38.800 hunts and fishes. Anyone who hunts fishes, anyone who fishes, 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:42.240 who knows what else they do, right, But like, it's 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:44.200 weird to meet someone who grew up in a hunting 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:49.960 family who didn't fish, especially in the state of Michigan. 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:55.400 But the Latvians probably eat a ton of fish. Yeah, 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:57.680 they do, No I knew. I mean we would go out. 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:01.760 There was a kalamazoo Um Latvian Hunting and Fishing Club. 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:04.200 I think my dad belonged to it, and so yeah, 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.800 we go out and visit there. They'd have a annual 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:10.160 ice fish in derby tournament. We'd go out and check them, 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:12.640 you know, meet them, but we never did the fishing. 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:16.440 We've got there to say hi. So yeah, less than 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:19.400 ten days on the ice, less than ten days as 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:22.880 a hard water angler. Is that total? Or is that 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:27.200 saying ten day days ago? Was your first time out? Yeah, 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:29.760 I messed around a little bit last year in Montana. 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:34.000 What are your general impressions? Oh, I dig it. It's 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:36.280 been It's been harder than I thought it was gonna 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:42.200 be harder physically, mostly because I'm bringing kids along. And 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:44.000 so I went on there one day to Kanyan Ferry. 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:47.600 It's blowing thirty and by the time I had the 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:50.600 hole to drill, my kids were like, all right, that's 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:55.040 an unbelievab Yeah. I've since then, I've had people tell 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:56.560 me like, yeah, if you're gonna go out there, you'd 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:01.720 have to have a shact. Well, you guys, the right day. Yeah, 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:03.800 I've seen it nice out there, but generally it's like 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:07.000 windy enough where you're losing five gallon buckets right Like 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:08.960 you leave a five gallon bucket unattended and all of 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:12.600 a sudden it's just gone. No, the ice is scraped 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:16.840 almost clean, don't get snow on top. People come out there. 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:19.000 It's so windy that people come out an ice sail. 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:21.400 Where do you make like a little boat that has 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:25.920 like basing on skates? Never see this? Oh yeah, that's 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:29.400 a windy as ice fishing lake right there. Uh Brant 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:34.040 Brant Mixel ice fish in my whole life from the 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:37.760 get go, from the get go. Um, and then I've 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.040 been ice. Yeah, I've been. I'm forty four years old. 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:42.320 I'veen I like sabbing ice fishing for forty four years. 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:45.720 My mom and dad, I'll point out, for their honeymoon, 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:52.720 rented a living ice shanty that was the ice fished 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:58.560 for their honeymoon. So um, I was even even the 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:02.079 egg and then the egg and the mixings, the mixings 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:06.240 that went into producing me had a deep familiarity with 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:09.520 hard water angland before they even came together and combined 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:18.319 to make my component parts. Deep tradition in ice Angland. Now, Uh, 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:20.480 you guys are from I would say probably what I 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:25.520 think to be like the ice fish in this state Minnesota. Yeah, 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:28.560 I would tend to agree. I was flying in recently. 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:33.320 I flew, Uh, I was flying until Lacrosse, Wisconsin, and 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.280 on the flight over over Minnesota, we passed over some 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:38.720 big lakes and it was right at dark, right at dusk, 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:41.080 and you can see the lake just lit up with lanterns. 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:46.160 It's little ice shin villages all over ice communities. Do 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:48.240 you think it's mostly like a place like Minnesota where 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:50.640 people really hit ice fish and heavy? Is it like 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:56.320 is it because people are miserable and bored in the 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:58.000 winter or do you think it's something else? Like do 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:02.760 you meet people who only ice fish? Yes? Actually that 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:06.800 they're not generalist anglers. I mean, I don't think it's 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:09.360 be very common for someone who ice fish is a 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:13.040 lot to not open water fish. But I there certainly 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:16.760 are people that like are dedicated ice fisherman that don't 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:21.120 do much open water fishing. Yeah, it's like, uh, it's 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:26.040 more associated with drinking. It's frequently associated with drinking, but 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:29.280 it's also you know, there's some different styles of people. 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.120 There's people that love ice fishing that I don't really 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:34.320 care if they catch anything or if the fishing is good. 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:37.080 They more care about the drinking because they want to 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:39.640 just go drink on the ice because it's fun. But 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:42.840 then there's people that like want to catch fish and 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:46.079 try hard, but they often are drinking too. Not always. 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:47.400 The roosts that bring it up is I feel like 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:51.240 there's always been a there's a like in the non 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:55.559 ice fishing world, which is a big world, okay, of 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:58.559 people that don't ice fish. There's a perception of ice 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:04.600 like like ice fishing had, say, a perception problem. Grumpy 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:07.079 old man. Yeah, people aren't. Yeah, it could be that 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:09.000 you think that did it. That's what I thought of 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:13.000 before I even ice fished. It's a horrible representation of 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:17.120 what it actually is. Like lazy anglers who aren't successful. 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:22.920 I mean, if you are coming in, okay, we got 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:26.520 a round whitefish coming in bad angle right now, I 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:28.360 think you're just gonna have to You want me to 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:32.480 wing it, let him walk, I don't turn into the day. 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:36.200 I gotta stroke at him here, take it all right? 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:41.840 He might come back, Yeah, come on, come once. Can 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:46.040 you see him stiggling, jiggling, jiggling. No, I just watch 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:50.520 his tailgalay, he was going back behind us. Yeah, he 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:52.760 was kind of like he wasn't like booking. I wouldn't 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:55.600 be surprised if he comes back through. It seems like 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:57.440 he was looking at the jig. But they just like 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:05.439 to circle it some times. Man, I was just thinking 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:09.679 we would do. It's been a little bit, we want it, 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:18.920 no almost excitement. Would you would have taken that poke, Steve, Well, 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:20.600 I'm at it. I'm in a different spot than you. 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:22.480 I would have taken the poke. No one would. I 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:25.800 now know me too, But no, I think if I 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:27.640 was in your shoes, out of waited, thinking he might 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:30.240 hook or whatever. But now I reviewed in my mind, 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:32.679 I would have taken a hail Mary, just one more past, 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:39.240 like duck hunting, let him get closer exactly. Oh so, anyways, Bryce, 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:41.800 the first thing you thought was that movie Grumpy Old Man. Yeah, 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:44.840 that's that's exactly what I had in mind for not 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:52.199 only Minnesotan's but I and so uh so it's so long, 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:54.680 real quick they refresh my memory? How do they depict 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:58.960 the actual angling in the and the like with a 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:03.120 couple of old men sitting around drinking beer and not 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:06.760 catching ship. But I feel like the movie doesn't. Actually, no, 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:09.480 it's about one of them is like kind of a 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:14.160 little bit potsy. And then it was like a lady 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:17.199 and they both like her. She goes to the one. 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:19.280 You figure she's gonna go for the other one gets 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:23.000 a little piste, start pranking each other, putting fish in 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:26.559 each other's trucks. That's right. It started sounding a lot 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:30.559 like growing up. So when you got invited out of 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:34.800 ice fish and why didn't you? Uh, why didn't you? 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:36.840 You were like, oh, so this is what I'm getting into. 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:39.960 I'm going out and it's gonna be two old men 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:45.120 caught in a love triangle. It's not exactly. I mean, 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:50.960 I guess I just hadn't really considered going out ice fishing. 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:55.360 I never had this stuff. I wasn't gonna just wing 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:57.320 it and spending you know, three d bucks on an 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:02.320 auger try to chip through the ice, Swiss a spud 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:06.080 bar or something. But when you guys first went out, 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:08.600 what was your what we're going for? Oh? It was 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:13.719 just the stock fish or around anchorage the first lake. 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:17.320 We went to his beer caned lake and just went 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:19.920 out and just see what we can catch, and it 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:23.680 wounded up being like not exciting, No, it was very exciting. Yeah. 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:27.000 We uh we didn't have any of the vax lars 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:30.840 or any of the fish finders. Uh yeah, vex lar 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:33.720 is like a it's a it's a it's a sonar 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:36.280 esque apparatus that kind of tells you what's going down 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:39.600 but down below your whole. But yeah, so we didn't 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:41.560 have any of those, and fishing in the blind and 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:47.440 even then still just we caught countless fish and uh, 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:51.440 they're almost all dollies, aren't they. I think, so, yeah, 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:55.840 dollies are the stock rainbows. And then you were hooked. 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:58.800 Oh yeah yeah. Right after that, like I said, just 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:03.120 went out and started buying ice fishing stuff and now 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:05.440 I've got my own arsenal because that's what I think. 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:07.440 I feel like, like I was saying, like in the 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:12.760 non ice fishing world, there's this idea that it's uh 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:17.520 like super boring, and I think, but they're because they're 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:19.960 looking at people that there's like these different kind of anglers. 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:25.280 You have your drunkards, there's three kinds of ice. You 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:29.960 had your drunkards, you had your hardcore fishermen. That were 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:34.240 out to catch fish. And then you had your drunkards 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:37.880 who were hardcore fishermen and out to catch fish. And 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:45.160 I like associated with I knew about many of the 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:48.920 the drunkards. I would see a lot of the people 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:52.280 who were out there but uh, no real interest in 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:54.480 catching fish. But it's like the social aspect of it, 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:57.000 you know, and like to go drink on the ice. 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:01.600 But then my in my father's social circle, there having 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:03.560 to be a lot of the drunkards who are hardcore 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.600 about catching fish. And they would be like, there's like 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:08.280 the kind of guy who comes out on the ice. 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:12.120 He sets up his shanny without doing any work. He 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:15.560 just kind of randomly is out there, drills a hole 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:20.320 through the ice, lowers his thing down, and that is 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:24.480 that is where he's going to be. That's the weekend. 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:27.040 And it's like he's just opening it up to fate. 0:16:27.480 --> 0:16:29.960 It'll turn out, it won't turn out. Then there's the 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:32.920 kind of guy who goes out and drills a dozen 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:37.320 holes before he does anything anything, and this man will 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:40.240 be the man that catches fish because they're taken to 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:46.360 it that same level of devotion and passion that what 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.720 you think like the best open water Angler would take 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:55.840 to it. Yeah, it doesn't hold it be drilled on 0:16:55.840 --> 0:17:01.640 this lake so far, So yeah, takes a lot longer. 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:05.960 Ice fishing, when you're trying to find depth changes because basically, 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:08.080 if you want to see the depth, you gotta joe 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:11.199 hole at every spot. Yeah. You know, my brothers talk 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:14.160 about the way you like, the way ice fisherman perceives 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:18.320 the body of water is so much different the way 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:20.720 in open water Angler perceives it, because he says that 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:25.160 he perceives the body of water just basically has like cylinders, 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:28.000 Like when you're out on a lake in the old water, 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:29.719 you kind of think of the whole lake. But he's like, 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:32.000 I just think of it as that I basically drill 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:35.560 my whole and I imagine that cylinder extends down to 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:38.840 the bottom, and I just think about like that spot, 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:42.399 and then I move over and I make like another 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:46.280 like theoretical cylinder they're gonna think about. But you can't 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:49.160 be that you're just checking out the whole place, because 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:52.399 you're just like picking. You know, you can't troll, you 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:55.960 can't cast, you're not like working a drop off. You 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:58.399 just have to be where you're like committing to, like 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:05.560 a specific thick spot and picking your spot is really important, 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:07.560 but you have a lot less data to go off 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:10.880 of to pick your spot because you're not passing over 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:12.520 with a fish find or getting like a really good 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:16.600 sense of where everything is. But brand your thing is 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:20.520 like drilled millions of holes yep ice troll ice troll 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:24.840 oftentimes send a camera down there to have a look, 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:29.280 check out specific habitat up front, trying to find edges, 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:34.359 micro habitat to find the spot on the spot, and 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:36.679 then on top of that, you you need to go 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:42.520 in there and take a poke. And here we have 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:45.119 like the visual element where we have a big gass 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:48.520 spirit hole and we're in shallow water, so you see 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:51.880 all the things that go on that you otherwise won't 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:54.320 be aware of. For instance, last night we had we 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:58.600 were jigging for bourbon through a hole in the ice 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:01.600 where we could actually look down and see because we 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:04.960 put a light so we could look underwater, and had 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:10.119 seven bourbon come up to investigate the jig. This is 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:13.000 a big predatory fish that like will suck back six 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:17.040 seven inch fish no problem. Seven of them throughout the 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:21.359 course of the night came up and whipped and sniffed 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:25.119 the jig or passed through under the jig. If you 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:29.480 were fishing without the looking hole, you would get the 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:31.640 sense that there was no activity and nothing at all 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:34.480 going on. If you can have a vex lyre unless 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:37.440 you have a vex llyr, explain the vex ler. So 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:42.960 vex are basically a depth finder fish finder, um, if 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:45.080 you don't have a camera, which we normally don't have 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:47.199 a camera, so we'll use that to check all the depths, 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:51.679 but basically is a circle and then will sound the 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:54.359 bottom and have a real dark red line where the 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:57.959 bottom is. And then as your jig your jigs normally 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:01.040 like green Cane, your jig going up and down when 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:05.160 you jake, you can watch her the light on it 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:08.080 go up and down. And then as a fish comes 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:10.840 in for like eel pole, they'll come up from the 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:13.719 bottom generally, so you'll see a red line come up 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:16.520 from the bottom, red line and then follow the jig. 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:20.760 It's like a video game, match up the lines and you. 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:24.679 But the thing about it's like it's like they're very responsive, 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:26.480 so it's kind of real time. Like there's a delay 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:30.320 with sonar, yeah, like a regular boat sonar. Yeah, that 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:32.200 you really have it like a display screen, and it's 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:33.840 kind of like tracking your history. It's just like a 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:37.880 real time portrayal of what's going on, to the point 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:40.640 where if you lift your ride to work your jig, 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:43.760 you're watching like an exact replication of where your jigs 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:47.159 at in the time. There's no delay whatsoever. But I 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:49.440 can't believe, like going my whole life and not ever 0:20:49.560 --> 0:20:52.000 using those things, I can't believe it either. I don't 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:53.720 know how you like ice fishing. You don't have a 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:56.479 vex flor. I don't know. I guess I just like 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:00.920 it like a deeper old timy ways, just like when 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:03.040 you're just fishing blind, you never know if there's a 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:05.920 fish under you, Like with the vexil or, at least 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:08.359 you know if there's fish down there or not at 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:11.760 all times. That's like a thing that comes up with 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:16.600 people griping about technologies like that, well that this is 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:19.320 a very old school technology to like my grandpa had 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:23.440 on it was it wasn't colored, but yeah, my dad 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:26.400 had one that was like an LCD screen. Didn't work 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:29.639 real well in the cold at all. There's just gray 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:33.040 black and white scale. But you know, but you're familiar 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:36.000 with the people that will say, oh, it takes all 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:39.760 the challenge out of it, right, And I think like 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:43.920 stuff like that can increase effectiveness. But a thing that'll 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:46.440 always point out to people when having like this conversation 0:21:46.480 --> 0:21:50.480 about whether it's son a or whatever else, is you 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:56.439 learn a lot more like it enhances your understanding of 0:21:56.480 --> 0:22:03.080 the environment and what's around you and how it all relates. Absolutely, 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:05.159 so you're like, you like, it's not like you have 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:07.360 It's not like, oh, now that I have this device 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:09.879 like a like a GPS, I know or not. Sorry, 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:12.040 Now that I have a sonar device when I'm fishing, 0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:15.480 I can just turn my brain off and now I 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:18.520 don't need to learn anything about fish. It's like having 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:23.119 a sonar has taught me shiploads about fish because you 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:25.960 understand like where they are when they're they're not hitting, 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:28.240 when they're there and are hitting, and you come away 0:22:28.280 --> 0:22:30.960 with it. If you stripped it away from me, now, 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:34.600 if whatever it became illegal to have it, I would 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:36.439 be like, well, thank God for the time that I 0:22:36.520 --> 0:22:39.719 had with it, because I learned so much usable stuff 0:22:39.720 --> 0:22:42.679 about how fish operate. Yeah, how did jig? How fast 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:44.840 do you when they come in and they don't bite, 0:22:45.480 --> 0:22:47.680 you go up, make them chase up, you go down 0:22:47.720 --> 0:22:51.360 to the bottom, they'll go down. What size jigs working? Um, 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:53.440 it gives you a lot more information if you don't 0:22:53.480 --> 0:22:57.040 have a flash or you're just hoping something bites your jig, 0:22:57.160 --> 0:22:59.840 And some days that works great. But when you're going 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:03.800 in of new lakes and find a new territory and 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:06.160 I want to get something dialed in, it's a it's 0:23:06.160 --> 0:23:08.840 a good tool. But there's like flasher we should explain 0:23:08.840 --> 0:23:12.800 as a synonym for the x L the brand name. Yeah, 0:23:13.119 --> 0:23:16.600 vex Lar's brand name. So when you like, when I 0:23:16.680 --> 0:23:18.480 was younger, though, if you like, if you were going 0:23:18.520 --> 0:23:21.960 to strike out to go ice fishing, heading out the door, 0:23:22.640 --> 0:23:28.040 it would be typically a very like rudimentary setup. So 0:23:28.119 --> 0:23:30.639 that was your child, Yeah, so well, no, it depends 0:23:30.680 --> 0:23:32.800 on the pends ont to what level we were going out. 0:23:33.000 --> 0:23:34.800 So like, for instance, if it was if we're going 0:23:34.800 --> 0:23:36.280 out to ice fish to lake you grew up on, 0:23:36.359 --> 0:23:38.199 you could go as simple as this. You'd have a 0:23:38.280 --> 0:23:42.080 bucket and in that bucket you would have one or 0:23:42.080 --> 0:23:45.880 two rods in your pocket, you'd have a chew tin 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:50.960 full of maggots, you'd have a little film canister full 0:23:51.000 --> 0:23:53.960 of jigs and then if the ice was like six 0:23:54.000 --> 0:23:58.600 inches or less, you'd carry with your spud to chop 0:23:58.640 --> 0:24:02.080 a hole. And depending on the air tamp, you might 0:24:02.080 --> 0:24:04.320 not even have a scooper to strain out the ice chunks, 0:24:05.560 --> 0:24:08.239 and you'd be like our ice fishing like that, like 0:24:08.280 --> 0:24:13.399 basically nothing twenty bucks for the stuff, or you'd go 0:24:13.440 --> 0:24:15.919 out expedition grade fishing where all of a sudden it's 0:24:15.960 --> 0:24:19.399